PlanningUrbanORegional

Apr 24, 2023

Idea of time-space in city making: the two realities.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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Those in project management understand single concept of time, i.e. time by clock and calendar. Project executed as per work schedule, days, month etc., there is no other reality. There is also single reality of space here i.e., per unit distance or area, at different spatial scale, meter, km, sqft, sqkm etc.

Those in urban planning affair, do understand above concept of time, as every urban development project is some kind of project/ programme management only, applied in a spatial context; but they also encounter another idea of time and space, different from clock, calendar and spatial unit, which is sometimes difficult to measure or interpret or even acknowledge. Here meaning of time and distance may differ for different individuals/ groups, depending on age, ability, gender, purpose, intention, aspirations, resources, geography, culture, familiarity, temporal reference, psychological conditions etc. This multifaceted idea of time and space is a reality different than minutes and meters; distinctly observable in urban planning affair. For instance, the centuries of idea of walkable distance or distance to be covered by bicycle or cart and time consumed in travelling such distance may logically and technically be measured in meters and minutes; but these distances and associated travel time may mean different thing to a child, old person, person with physical disability, people with special needs, person carrying weight or child, a jogger, fitness enthusiast, a pro native, a lost tourist, a person travelling to cinema and a person being taken to hospital while battling for life. This idea and perception of time and space is further different depending or use of powered vehicle, bike, wheelchair, horse cart or without these. Also different in context of metropolis, city, small town, or suburb. A 500 meter distance might be an easy distance for some and may feel like 10 miles to other.

Its important to acknowledge that the "unit time" by the clock or calendar which we are conditioned to use as a benchmark as an urban planner, city managers or project/ programme managers, is somehow a weighted average or a median of all aspects mentioned above, which are rarely widely discussed. Simply put 500 meter walking distance for example to be understood as average of what an athlete and an old age person can comfortably walk.

Irony is that there are possibly no scientific project management tool, method or explanation that acknowledge this "other" kind of spatiotemporal reality. Its just that urban planners, urban designers and landscape architects, instinctively acknowledge and factor in a different kind of time and space definition as well i.e. time beyond clock and distance beyond mile-stone; and they make provisions for same and alike, to make city a better place.

Author: Anoop Jha

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[Recent update

Starting 2024, launching urban management, interior design, home decor and commissioned artwork services in the Netherlands, serving local as well as international remote clients.

Please Note, that I am also conducting a FREE 45-minute online individual consultation on your interior design and home decor needs and aspirations if you are in the Netherlands or even internationally. Drop me an email at anoop.jha@gmail.com

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

Instagram interior design page @urbantenets

Instagram fine art and illustration page @urbanoregional

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#urbanplanning #Utrecht #hague #Denhaag #Amsterdam #Delft #Leiden #architecture #Alkmaar #Netherlands

Revisiting landuse

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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If any part of city, neighborhood, plot or real estate inventory is not performing optimally, or partially vacant or deserted; then possibly assigned land use is not appropriate, which is required to be heterogeneous and able to be readjusted in near real time. The definition of land use as well need to be re-examined.

Land use regulation in any part of world usually has inbuilt provisions of land use conversion, sometimes by complex and lengthy statutory provisions; while land use remains binding for five to ten years or longer. Also, today’s land use plan, might be based on 5 to 10 year or older idea of what growth is or what growth should be or what growth may look like in future.

The actual current growth, desired land use composition and today’s socio-commercial dynamics may or may not match the historically envisaged growth pattern, land use classification; or land use spatial distribution; which usually leads to mismatch in current land use demand, supply, and mix. Hence the nobel intention of development control regulation, though may serve its intended purpose of stopping haphazard development, may also prove to be insufficient or counter-productive due to its rigidity. Further the definition of land use in terms of its current broad categories, and manner of current application in three dimentional space may remain a barrier for quick adaptation to market demand and supply, in absence of further granularity.

The traditional land use regulation is usually top-down, many a times fails to respond to emerging unforeseen bottom-up requirements over years; especially short-term requirements and rarely corresponds to real time requirements. City scale development control regulations or meso scale land use regulations and urban design guideline in all its legitimacy and validity, still by its very nature, may also create a rigid abstract three-dimensional regulated space which may act as a self-limiting criterion, failing to respond to present and real time land use demand pressure and socio-commercial aspirations.

While land use remains, an indispensable city planning tool, it a) may require to reinvent itself to be agile, allowing land usage conversion in near real time; b) may require to factor in dynamic property pricing and associated economic cost-benefit so that not a single acreage of potential urban space or single square feet of precious real estate remain underutilised in a city; c) may require to be implemented at a more granular level i.e., looking at a mixed-use zone or mixed-use building for instance not just as a spatial land use demarcation or a vertically stacked land use, but to be seen as mosaic (pixels) of variety of land usage both horizontally and vertically; compatibility of which can always be worked out.

Author: Anoop Jha

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[Recent update

Starting 2024, launching urban management, interior design, home decor and commissioned artwork services in the Netherlands, serving local as well as international remote clients.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

Instagram interior design page @urbantenets

Instagram fine art and illustration page @urbanoregional

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Involving designers and engineers in urban policy-making for assuring policy success and sustainable built environment.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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Policy by its very nature mostly remains abstract and sometimes open to interpretation. Urban policy aspirations related to built environment, have to eventually trickle down from vision to some form of project i.e., to brick-and-mortar level. Such policies also effectively have to reflect in improved quality of life and sustainability parameters like resource optimisation and energy saving, as an outcome. The successful outcome of policy hence depends on whether the policy is closer to ground reality or not.

In the long value chain of city-making affair, usually “urban policymakers” and those who are actually responsible for execution of project i.e., “designers and engineers”, represent two opposite ends of the spectrum. These designers and engineers usually have little say in urban policy formulation related to built environment. This is because the process and information flow in public institutional hierarchy follows similar linear project management model. i.e., top-down; characterised by similar hierarchy and dyadic extremities. Urban policy making though try to represent and incorporate insights from several stakeholders, still essentially remains a top-down process.

First, analysing design project management itself, wondering why design projects for instance tend to overshoot project budget and timeline? Possibly for two main reasons, one in the top down project management process, budget, client negotiation processes, etc. are usually dictated by management higher up or departments/ experts different than planning and engineering (i.e. procurement, financial, legal etc.), who sometimes may or may not be having complete exposure to dynamic day to day design and execution challenges involved in range of built environment projects or may be having limited comprehension of how design and engineering project may get affected in different possible scenarios and in different site context. Hence missing out on critical insights of other bottom extreme of project management value chain, i.e., designers and engineers; while formulating project budget and time frame. The second aspect which may not be directly related to above policy discussion but still noteworthy related to budget and time overshoot is that project management processes like standard operating procedures (SOPs) and tools including many software don’t explicitly factor in real-life challenges and don’t allow to test scenario building, out of scores of possible scenarios which may directly or indirectly impact project. Apparent from the fact that how design projects and project management processes/ software struggled to respond in real time at the onset of the pandemic, despite knowing that the force majeure or Acts-of-God may become a reality at any time; despite having robust industry accepted project management SOPs.

Designers and engineers here imply material experts, product designers, furniture designers, interior designers, architects, building engineering experts (MEP - HVAC/ Electrical/ Plumbing experts), ICT/ intelligent building management experts (IBMS), green building experts, infrastructure experts (Dry/wet utilities), and now emerging circularity experts, who actually design and execute the very constituents or building block or unit of built environment or a city i.e., neighborhood, building/ housing unit or its components, with all its material composition, furnishing, and appliances.

Designers and engineers including project managers, for instance, are those who are usually most close to the reality of execution, having the first-hand understanding of implementation and execution challenges and palpable ground realities. But, urban policy formulation and sometimes strategic report and action plans, related to built environment are traditionally formulated at a level, and with the kind of resources or skilled manpower involved, which may or may not be having the exact or hands-on understanding of sometimes bitter realities of project execution and context. Hence the insight and understanding of designers and engineers are vital for policy making and may simply dictate the success or failure of policy. These critical insights coming from designers and engineers are fundamental to policy formulation as they control the unitary elements of built environment. Any error or innovation at the unitary level has a multiplier effect. If we consider the household or individual house as a constituent unit of the entire population or city, for instance if we save or waste 1 kWh of energy per household, then at a city scale it may result in unimaginable energy saving or energy wastage. Designers and engineers are capable of offering such critical insights, information, modalities, and tools (to save material and energy for instance), which can be directly embedded into the urban policies related to built environment, leading to assured measurable benefits.

Hence, if we incorporate the insights of designers and engineers in the policy formulation, the outcome of the policy will most likely be tangible, realistic and measurable. The abstractness of policy though is acceptable, but it should not stop policymakers to factor in empirical expertise and insights gathers from the other extreme end of city making value chain, i.e., that which comes from designers and engineers.

Author: Anoop Jha

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[Recent update

Starting 2024, launching urban management, interior design, home decor and commissioned artwork services in the Netherlands, serving local as well as international remote clients.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

Instagram interior design page @urbantenets

Instagram fine art and illustration page @urbanoregional

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#urbanplanning #townplaning #cityplanning #circulareconomy #projectmanagement #infrastructureplanning #engineering #construction #biobasedmaterial #policy #publicpolicy #governance #Rotterdam #utrecht #Amsterdam #Hague #Netherlands

Circular Construction and Infrastructure for Sustainable Cities

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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Cities across the world are facing material constraints and struggling with immense waste generation. As per the report Circle Economy (2023)[1], currently, worldwide material consumption has already surpassed the sustainable threshold of 8 tons per person, by a factor of 1.5 times. Eurostat statistics (2023)[2] indicate 4.8 tons per EU inhabitant waste generated in 2020, of which more than 30 percent went to landfill sites. This article explains the broad evolution and transition of the concept of circular economy from industries to cities and explores the emerging application of #CircularEconomy concepts in the construction and infrastructure sector.

The concept of circular economy has existed for a long period of time, but primarily in an industrial context, like Eco-Industrial Park and Waste to Energy plants. Circular economy principles in the case of industries are usually known as #IndustrialSymbiosis or #IndustrialSynergy and use two approaches i.e., first, the waste of one industry can be used as feed for another industry, and second, industries are co-located based on their compatibility. Waste from one industry like process waste water, slag, petcoke, sludge, packaging waste, scrap material, process heat, etc. can be used by other industries in several forms like cement production, fuel, space heating, composite material, nutrient extraction, etc., and essentially helps keep the material and energy in a closed loop; also stopping waste from going to landfill sites. In Waste to Energy plants, Electricity or Hydrogen is generated through a process called plasma gasification, using waste as raw material including municipal solid waste or agricultural waste like (rice husk, and palm tree waste) or industrial waste (like petcoke) or mix of these. Sometimes waste enrichment is required to achieve the specific calorific value of waste before conversion to energy.

Recently there has been a lot of focus on the application of circular economy principles in urban areas. Application of circular economy in the urban area is usually based on the following principles i.e., either "being resource efficient in construction "or "minimizing waste generation" or "reusing waste" or "keeping the material in the loop for a longer duration" or "high-value use of components at the end of first life" or "through the #SharedEconomy" like the use of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). Circular transition in the built environment can be achieved by effective and enhanced reuse of old construction material (through urban mining and use of material passport), use of new circular composite materials (building, pavements, street furniture, etc.), process heat capture (from utilities like from power plants, waste treatment plants and public amenities like an ice rink), generating waste to energy (from municipal solid waste), generating manure and extracting valuable elements from sludge (sewage and wastewater treatment plant), community repair initiatives, etc.

The construction sector in specific utilizes circular economy principals through a multitude of measures like circular buildings construction especially focusing on the reuse of construction material components from redevelopment projects or other decommissioned projects (high-value harvested component usage, deconstruction), use of biobased materials (used in building construction, interior, and finishes), efficiency during the design of buildings using Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Digital Twin, circular procurement of raw construction material, contracting innovation for post life cycle management of the building, etc. While research on the utility of circular economy concepts in building construction has advanced recently, there has been limited research, understanding, and awareness of the use of circular economy principles in the urban infrastructure sector. The circularity in the infrastructure sector can be achieved at several stages including, pre-design, design, procurement, execution, operation and maintenance, and post-life cycle management. The infrastructure sector utilizes several measures to achieve circular transition including intensive reuse of construction material Resource optimization, modular construction elements, use of sensors to predict the remaining functional life of infrastructure and predictive maintenance, process heat capture and reuse, extraction of valuable material from waste and waste to energy, etc.

The use of concepts of circular economy in the construction and infrastructure sector is a novel but promising area and becoming indispensable in achieving self-reliance, sustainability, and resilience in cities. The #Netherlands is at the forefront of #circulartransition and has come up with a national circular economy transition vision [3] that aspires to reduce the use of primary raw materials by half till 2030 and to be completely circular by 2050; many cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc have come up with their specific measurable goals and circular action plans showing their commitment to circular transition. Continued innovation, a multidisciplinary approach, industry-wide #collaboration, and #knowledgesharing is required for achieving a circular transition in the construction and infrastructure sector.

Author: Anoop Jha

Image: Author

Statistics source:

[1] Circle Economy. (2023). The circularity gap report 2023. Amsterdam: Circle Economy.

[2] Eurostat (online data code: env_wasgen)

[3] Government of the Netherlands

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[Recent update

Starting 2024, launching urban management, interior design, home decor and commissioned artwork services in the Netherlands, serving local as well as international remote clients.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

Instagram interior design page @urbantenets

Instagram fine art and illustration page @urbanoregional

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#CircularEconomy #IndustrialSymbiosis #IndustrialSynergy #MaterialPassport #UrbanMining #CircularProcurement #ProcessHeatRecovery #WastetoEnergy #MaterialInnovation #BiobasedMaterial #Circulartransition #builtenvironment #urbanplanning #urbanmanagement #Rotterdam #Hague #Utrecht #Netherlands

Wisdom lies somewhere between fixed ticket pricing and free public transport.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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On the one hand fixed ticket pricing may assure good quality transit service but struggle to lure enough commuters, on the other hand free public transport may defy its purpose due to deteriorating quality of service.

Thinking of barriers to modal shift i.e. shift from private vehicle to public transport, the factors may include, fare, quality, frequency, coverage, commute time, waiting time among others. Price may be overarching and most important criteria (barrier or enabler), and might dictate modal shift. Thinking of price, especially fixed price, it may act as a barrier for entry to public transport and shape the behaviour of citizen. The moment a person or millions of youth over the time, start a working life in a city, they decide the best possible and economic option to commute to work. Calculating monthly public transport expense is easy, i.e. multiply fixed return fair price to number of commute days (even if subsidised its still fixed). If their calculation shows private transport (personal or shared) as cheaper option, they are most likely to choose bike/ car/ shared car as their preferred mode of daily commute. Then they are more likely to eventually buy their own car as well. Then there is no looking back, if discouraged to take public transport to work in first few instances, for any reason, its most likely that they may get accustomed to comfort, convenience and routine of travelling by car for life and never to give consideration to using public transport again for their routine commute. They may possibly even become brand ambassador of car, or shared car, or electric car; still a car.

One way a public transport can make practical sense for such millions of people making wrong choices, is if people are given a deal, a surety, that there is a chance that their effective monthly travel expenses may still come down, that their daily fair will get reduced as a function of occupancy of public transport; and never go higher than the fixed price. That is, ticket prices are likely to reduce in real time if buses or metro or tram are running under-capacity. Real time reduced price will encourage more people to opt for public transport and public transport will benefit from increased ridership. This is a win-win situation for citizens and public transport agency, agencies who are seen running their fleet without sufficient passengers many a times, everyday, over and over again, over years; loosing thousands and millions of potential latent commuter footfalls every month.

It cant be stressed enough that dynamic real time ticket pricing with a max price cap equivalent to current fixed price, is something that public transport authorities must consider for implementation, at least for pilot test of 3 to 6 months.

Author: Anoop Jha

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[Recent update

Starting 2024, launching urban management, interior design, home decor and commissioned artwork services in the Netherlands, serving local as well as international remote clients.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

Instagram interior design page @urbantenets

Instagram fine art and illustration page @urbanoregional

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#publictransport #fare #ticket #travel #urbanplanning #transportplanning #Rotterdam #Hauge #Hague #Utrecht #Netherlands

Apr 8, 2023

Information, connectivity and networked life as understated but intrinsic qualities of smart cities.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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The flow of information has evolved from farmers reading the sign of nature to estimate rainfall, to kingdoms relying on harbinger posted on hilltop communicating warning signs about approaching enemy convoys, to messages critical getting delivered through telegraph using Morse code, to modern-day ICT and mass media revolution.

Connectivity has not just emerged in terms of shortening the physical distance but assumed a new role and meaning that simply didn’t exist centuries back i.e., virtual connectivity.

Networked life, though has existed from the very beginning of societal structural formation, the emergence of trade activities, and evolution of economic ecosystem; it was never as organised, resilient, and transitory as today.

The way social and technological evolution occur, like an almost unstoppable but invisible force; it remained almost unnoticeable, until recently. While we assume that getting timely information, availing universal connectivity, and living a networked way of life is fundamental and intrinsic to society, almost like the presumed service rights; only until we encounter paucity of information, obstruction in connectivity or experience friction or blockage in network.

What it takes for cities to offer a seamless flow of information, ubiquitous connectivity, and resilient modern networked life? Almost all of the above values and conveniences of modern life can be encapsulated under the ambit of the smart city concept; with the concerted efforts of multiple stakeholders.

The city administrations, city managers, and urban planners have to leverage all of these in a holistic, inclusionary, and cautionary manner while creating a fail-safe provision for system redundancy. The discourse around amorphous and shape-shifting “smart city concepts”, yet seemingly an unstoppable force, is increasingly required to be directional and formulative (instead of divisive) to be constructive.

Author: Anoop Jha

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[Recent update

Starting 2024, launching urban management, interior design, home decor and commissioned artwork services in the Netherlands, serving local as well as international remote clients.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

Instagram interior design page @urbantenets

Instagram fine art and illustration page @urbanoregional

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#smartcity #urbanmanagement #urbandevelopment #ICT #Digitalisation #governance #egovernance #publicpolicy #ml #machinelearning #iot #Rotterdam #Amsterdam #DenHaag #Delft #Alkmaar #DenBosch #Eindhoven #Utretch #Hague #Netherlands

Good architecture and interior design never fails to amaze.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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It took sometime to notice the thoughtful and aesthetic design of handrail of wooden staircase in the apartment. It has close resemblance with sine curve or Bezier curve, a sign of harmony these may be called. This handrail was very comfortable, ergonomic and playful because of such design.

Also had opportunity to visit old style Dutch house earlier a couple of times, though was critical and puzzled at first, to see the steep narrow indoor staircase, narrow steps, short risers and low height handrails; different than those shown in pictures. Its almost felt like one needs to undergo a crash course to learn to navigate those staircases effortlessly and safely. While once again it took a while to get accustomed, one realises that those low height handrails goes very well with steep stairs. Not just that narrow staircase has space saving benefits, it also makes sense to have staircase designed in a more flexible, organic and fluid manner compared to modern popular geometric design as it fits in overall distinct architectural typology, especially pitched roof ones, where series or maze of steps may lead to different multilevel spaces, making it possible to make use of every possible space within the building envelope. And we are not even talking about sudden transitional quality of such staiways yet, which helps curb street behaviour while climbing the stairs.

While some may still find Dutch stairways, especially old ones, challenging to navigate, one thinks local/ traditional architects have mastered the craftsmanship of stairs and handrail making in many senses.

The obvious challenges associated with narrow steep stairs for instance related to age, abilities, and cargo handling are acknowledged, but that remains a separate topic for discussion.

Author: Anoop Jha

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[Recent update

Starting 2024, launching urban management, interior design, home decor and commissioned artwork services in the Netherlands, serving local as well as international remote clients.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

Instagram interior design page @urbantenets

Instagram fine art and illustration page @urbanoregional

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#Dutcharchitecture #Utrecht #hague #Denhaag #Amsterdam #Delft #Leiden #architecture #Alkmaar #Netherlands #interiordesign